The Dynamic of Capital Accumulation in a Stochastic World

Abstract

Abstract The topic of this short chapter is only partially connected with the main argument of this volume, since it does not deal with the issue of profit determination and income distribution in a macro-economic framework. It is however connected with the issue of the dynamic of capital accumulation at the micro-level in a stochastic world. More precisely we shall be concerned with: the dynamics of capital accumulation in a stochastic world where individuals or families have the choice between consumption and saving over a given time-horizon; the choice of individuals or families with respect to the kind of financial investment chosen, i.e. risky or safe assets; the conditions under which uncertainty, via the portfolio choice, may give rise to class differences, thus reinforcing the hypothesis of a society characterized by the presence of different socio-economic classes as in the case of the classical, post-Keynesian (as well as neoclassical) models of growth and income distribution analysed in the earlier chapters.